For his many friends and fans, Peter Cook was quite simply the funniest man they'd ever encountered. And nearly eight years since his death, his status as one of Britain's greatest comedians shows no sign of shrinking. Despite his reputation for idleness, Peter Cook was a great comedy writer, who created countless outrageous sketches and articles and was famed for his prolific role in the satire boom of the 1960s. The very best, the most famous and some of the most unusual of his comic masterpieces are collected here. Some of these pieces have never been published before, others are out of print, a few only survive in print, and many have only ever been seen or heard - never read. This collection ranges from Cook's first writing, at school and university, via Beyond The Fringe, with Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller, his dualogues with Moore as Pete&Dud and Derek&Clive, and their brilliant TV series,Not Only But Also, to transcripts of his late, great TV appearances, and a selection of his journalism for theDaily Mail,theEvening StandardandPrivate Eye.

Peter Cook (Author) William Cook is the author of Ha Bloody Ha - Comedians Talking (Fourth Estate) and The Comedy Store - The Club That Changed British Comedy (Little, Brown). He has worked for the BBC and written for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the New Statesman. William Cook (Author) William Cooks most recent book isOne LegToo Few - The Adventures of Peter Cook&Dudley Moore, published by Preface.

He is also the author ofHa Bloody Ha(Fourth Estate),The Comedy Store(Little, Brown),Morecambe&Wise Untold(HarperCollins) and25 Years of Viz(Macmillan).

He editedKiss Me, Chudleigh - The World According to Auberon Waugh(Hodder),Eric Morecambe Unseen(HarperCollins), andTragically, I Was An Only TwinandGoodbyeAgain, two biographical anthologies of the work of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, both published by Century.

He has worked for the BBC and has written for theGuardian, theNew Statesmanand theMail on Sunday. He currently contributes to theIndependent, theSpectatorand Conde NastTraveller. He has won several awards for his travel writing, including the Johann Strauss Gold Medal for his writing about Vienna.

A hilarious collection of comedy sketches, scripts, musings and never before seen, or read, footage from one of history's funniest comedians, revealed here as a comedy writer of unparalleled talent and humour.